lfabio2007

Who do we contact for reservations? Mail to david@ansillfoodandwine.com goes conspicuously unanswered.

We went back Thursday and sat on the 'patio' outside, between 640 and the church next to it. The space is great, if a little noisy, the food good as ever. There seemed to be a disproportionate number of servers about.

We were at Snack Bar on Sunday, after seeing the king Tut exhibition. I hate to always be the guy who complains but.. I wish I had come here before they had 'adapted' their menu. The food was good, no doubt about it. The corn soup was very interesting, my hamachi crudo, if a little disconnected, was good, the lamb with braised lentils worthy of praise, so were the scallops. The tres leches genoise was definitely good also. But. But it felt like the chef's hand was being constrained into doing more 'meat and potatoes' stuff, as a poster above put it, when he could've been doing so much more - the chef's ability is very much not in discussion here and it seems like it was previously being put to better use. Even the pork belly, so often praised here, has been constrained into a 'BLT' that had nothing to do with the truly interesting renditions portrayed in the thread. Plus, their new menu structure makes a 'small plates' kind of meal problematic at best - and I enjoy 'small plates' from before it was fashionable (after all, that's what tasting menus are about) - because the menu now has a solid traditional structure, effectively. Oh well. This is what I get for not going earlier, I guess. Having said all this... would I go back? Sure. After having visited another half dozen places I have yet to go to. By contrast, I'll go to Osteria or its bigger brother any time - we actually just did last week.

We swung by here for lunch yesterday. In the solid tradition of 'way too much food, but so many things look good', the two of us had: Nachos with salsa - came with the meal. Very good and should have warned me of quantities to come. Guacamole, split between the two of us - not as good as Xochitl, but still a very good rendition. Decidedly excessive even for two... Quesadilla con pollo - truly excellent. I particularly liked the way the chicken had been treated (braised?) before being shredded. Excellent tortilla, too. Quesadilla vegetariana - my SO had this, of course I sampled - made with huitlacoche and other mushrooms, as good as the non-veg choice. Drinks: I had a draught Yards - I know, it's not appropriate, but I had read about the breakup on Foobooz, my SO had a Mojito which was.. different. Sweeter than I expected. Service in line with the place, informal but effective. Curiously, there weren't that many people there. Very good meal - and the cochinito mentioned by Philadining sounds interesting. My only issue with the place is the location. I know, I'm a silly european.

I just read the LaBan review for Fuji and I'm perplexed. He mentions explicitly that mr. Ito is not behind the bar and yet raves violently about the quality of the meal. Yet, all of you seem to have formed an opposite consensus. So.. what to do?

Hum! Thank you folks, I will change plans then. Report to follow, with a few others now that we're back stateside. Edit: since you seem to be proffering opinions, what about Uzu on market?

We're planning on going this weekend... any recommendations?

Oh damn. This all has to happen while I'm in europe, of course.

Folks, out of curiosity: could someone please POST about these Shola dinners (or other Remarkable Culinary Events ) ahead of time, or be so kind as to tell me where to look? I could get organised if that were the case, assuming of course they're open to the public. [Edited again, I found the mention, but might it not be useful to group these kinds of things in the calendar or in a sticky? Just asking, mind]

Hm! The last time we were there, now that I think of it, Mr. Ansill definintely did not cook - we had a tasting menu and he was in the front of the house. It was very enjoyable, truth be told: we'll have to conduct further experiments when we're back stateside.

This does not bode well. Pif worked because *David Ansill* made it work. I have to wonder.

Hm. This is what I get from WHOIS: Registrant: Fuji Restaurant 404 Rt. 130 North Cinnaminson, NJ 08077 US Domain Name: FUJIRESTAURANT.COM Administrative Contact: ITO, MASAHARU fujimatt@EROLS.COM ITO, MASAHARU 404 US RT. 130 NORTH CINNAMINSON, NJ 08077 US (609) 829-5211 fax: 999 999 9999 Technical Contact: RCN abuse@RCN.COM 105 Carnegie Center Princeton, NJ 08540 US 800-746-4726 fax: 999 999 9999 Record expires on 04-Nov-2008. Record created on 05-Nov-1998. Database last updated on 6-Apr-2007 12:42:35 EDT.

I think it's a typo. Canella means "cinnamon" (which I suppose could be a pasta name, though it seems strange). I don't think that canela (with one L) is an Italian word at all. ←

Not to my knowledge. We, by the way, were there twice, thursday-before-last and sunday. First meal was excellent, second meal.. I've had better there. Review to follow.

Katie: I mean http://local.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1...013411&t=h&om=1 , the one that has the ramp that you go up on on Arch between 12th and 13th, which has the discounted parking as you, philadining and rlibkind said. Can't beat $3 for two hours. It had some cones preventing one from going up the ramp, which may have simply signified it was full, yes. Philadining, thanks for the pointer on the other garage. I looked in the entrance and decided 'no'. Glad to know I was right.

...and I must be one of the three europeans left who refuse to write time with a ':'. On to the restaurant, the post was short because, well, I consider what we had only half a visit, since we only had a series of pintxos (and the chocolate - do not forget the chocolate). Some things were truly remarkable - some I was not so sure about (literally: could you explain how the escabeche is made?). One thing that I forgot to mention was the pricepoint, which was truly remarkable: it was a lunch stop, etc... but $48 for both of us? Quite a bargain!

We ventured to Apamate yesterday for lunch. Short post, I promise. When we got in, I was slightly concerned because it was 14,30 and the kitchen seemed dead. We ordered, however, and were pleasently surprised. We had the chickpea soup, which was truly remarkable and was served instead of the usual roasted garlic soup (I understand this is mr. Shola's legacy?), some very good bouquerones, a mini empanada that was.. very mini .. and a tuna escabeche which I'm still trying to figure out. Other items in various order: a toast with sepas - mushrooms - which my GF enjoyed very much, toghether with a seared scallop that was pronounced very good and fresh, asparagus wrapped in jamon serrano (an interesting revisitation there - these were breaded). To close, we had the chocolate sampler AND some churros to go with it - or should I say IN it - which were tasty, though not as light perhaps as Xochitl's. I'd be curious to return for dinner and have something a little more structured.

We'd intended to stop by saturday afternoon, but the garage by the side of the market (on the other side of 12th) was closed: does anyone know if this is a temporary thing or...?

All the same, sorry Katie, I didn't mean to threadjack this badly.

Argh! I'll have to monitor threads more closely, I would've loved to come along and sample.

Same here! And yes, you're right. We just have to stop shy of where Katie decides that a nice Magnum champagne bottle makes for a good ...ah, crowd control device.

And I've been there closer to noon and all the best stuff was gone... ← Mhm! Thanks - then I guess it's saturday and/or asking Ms. GF if she'd like to go venture into Philadelphia.

Oops. I stand corrected then. There are plans to go to the other sang kee this weekend, we'll keep you posted.

Very well stated. Thank you! I appreciate that. Well, I look at it from a slightly different perspective: I may have worded things somewhat aggressively, aside from my personal dislike - which as you very correctly state depends on individual sensitivity to sweetness, etc - there is no doubt that adding sweetner to the dough to help the yeast is a shortcut in the rising process: it saves time, gives the process more predictability, etc, I'm sure we're all familiar with the chemistry involved. Precisely because I respect Vetri and Michaud's abilities and knowledge - I did state that fairly clearly, I think - I find that that could use improvement, that's all. As a matter of fact, I think I'll just take a shortcut myself and ask the next time I'm there. By the way, I did mention it was a failing of mine: there are some culinary situations that cause my blood pressure to rise rapidly (another is olive oil in risotto, another slightly different one is poor service). When I encounter them, I tend to get ... somewhat vocal. Mr. Varasano, btw, to which the link was provided, seems to be a man after my own heart. As he states, he makes a Neapolitan pizza, which has a higher crust... and seems to be very particular about the way he accomplishes it (we can discuss whether to precook the sauce and some points about the mozzarella, but his observations about the crust and the dough are precisely consistent with my knowledge: no sugars, sourdough starter, big 'bubble' texture, proper charring in a wood/coal fired brick oven because gas ovens produce H2O while cooking ... which is why the good pizza alternatives are electric). As to Artisanal, I'd like to thank all the posters and will go take a look. Someone mentioned times: what is the latest one can hope to find bread there? While my job description allows me to be on the internet from 8AM onwards, it would be materially more difficult for me not to be at work in the morning.

As a matter of fact, I regard it the opposite way: I am not 'caving in' on risotto, I'd be 'caving in' if I were to accept brodo period as the *most appropriate traditional answer*, within the admittedly delicate boundaries of what is considered traditional. And where one grew up and how familiar one is with the culinary traditions of an area have, evidently, a lot to do with that. I will stand by what I said until I read differently in about two dozen 'historic' cookbooks I happen to own or on Accademia della Cucina's website. With that said, here you're raising a different point: what tastes better, as opposed to what is more traditionally appropriate. As far as that goes, I will agree with you: a 'mixed' brodo will give you more body to work with, in many types of risotto. The thing is, in this particular case, a nice slosh of heavy duty 'tasto di manzo' based broth would have killed the cauliflower very effectively. The same thing happens, in my opinion, if you use the same undiluted in a risotto alla milanese, but that is clearly a matter of taste and opinion.